M50VM, wishful thinking or reality?

Down here in Aus, there is some sort of ghost Asus machine appearing on about 6-7 computer sites. All TBA delivery dates, specs are very similar. I can find no info on similar specced machines on the ASUS site, any leaks or NBR (as the search is down). Its tagged M50VM. Specs are:

M50VM-AS001G
CORE2DUO T9400 2.53GHZ
320GB HDD
2x2G DDR2
15.4" WXGA+ COLOURSHINE
NV G9600M GS/512M
S-MULTI+DL/LS
802.11 ABGN 10/100/1000+BT
1.3M
BAG
MOUSE
VISTA ULTIMATE

Seems relatively legit, as the sites I have browsed are rather reputable resellers.
Price is AU$1960~ but I'm sure that can't be right, if the cpu is a Montevina and they are slamming in a 9600 that hasn't even been properly fleshed out by Nvidia.

Any ideas/links?

 

I was wondering the same thing actualy, I'm also from Aus. I work for an IT company and I currently have one of these laptops on order through our distributor. Price seems great for whats in it. The supplier has told me I'll have the laptop in 21 days... I'll let you know what happens. It's supprising that ASUS doesn't have it on their website but if the distributor has it listed it msut be legit?

 

Been wondering this too.

 

Please let us know what the specs/etc are. 9600 is supposed to be the new architechture, rather than a rehashed 8600GT like the 9500 is, and the 9400 is a Montevina platform cpu. Under AU$2k seems very very cheap.

 

Specs are the same as what you have listed with my supplier.

M50VM-AS001G T9400/2.53/320/4/15/VU

CORE2DUO T9400 2.53GHZ,
320G,
2x2G DDR2,
15.4" WXGA+COLOURSHINE,
NV G9600M GS/512M,
S-MULTI+DL/LS,
802.11 ABGN 10/100/1000+BT,
1.3M,BAG,MOUSE,VISTA ULTIMATE.

Like i said, I've placed one on order... So if this notebook exists I believe they have to give it to me at that price.

I've been googling 'm50vm' every few days for about a week now. At first i only found 3 pages no there's over 10 so its slowley emerging. Looks legit to me.

 

Bookmarked. Let's see what happens with this baby.

--------I hate my job: first I was going for a cheap, decent Sager. Due to better screen, speakers and video card, I scrapped some more money together, aiming for the Asus M50Sv-A1 wiht 9500. Now where am I going to scratch more money for this new Asus with a tasty 9600? If the price is not decent, I'm sticking with the 9500 . Stubborn -----------

 

Update:

Distributors of the laptop (or at least in Aus.) will have it available come mid July. I was told that price should stick with it too.

I can't wait that long (for tax reasons) so Im picking up an M50sv with basicly the same specs (4gb, 9300 2.5, 9500) for about $100 less.

P.S. - looks like there will be very little stock when they do come in.

 

are the prices the same for all AU retailers? whats the performance of the 9600m GS supposed to be like (3d mark score wise if you know just for reference sake)? Whats the benefit of the montevista architecture? ive heard about it, i just dont know why its any better.

 

http://staticice.com.au/cgi-bin/search.cgi?q=m50vm

Thats a search engine that gives good prices for items in Aus. AU$ is almost 97c or 1 US$ atm, plus we have 10% tax on that already included.

No info on the 9600GS, the specs aren't even up on the Nvidia site, expect it to be equivalent to an 8700 I assume.

Montevina is built on the new 45nm architecture like Penryns, but has a 10-20% performance boost as far as I can read into it (still a little early, benchmarks won't be coming out till late June/July).

 

thanks thats very helpful. i dont suppose you have a screencap of the $1960 price do you? its not on that list and id like to try for a pricematch with some retailers here if i can pull it off.

 

Montevina is the latest generation of centrino, replacing Santa Rosa. It will be using Penryn cpus. What differs is the Chipset and the wireless module.

Read more here

 

seems good,
great machine, great price

 

Im honestly starting to have doubts about seeing 9600s in 15.4" notebooks (Aside from clevos and AWs). the reason for this is the nature of the desktop 9600. if you look at past 600 level cards, they were considerably smaller with lower energy demands than 800+ class cards. However, this series gets really confusing, the 3850 is an ati card that really competes with the 2600 and 8600 for price and power consumption, but killed them in performance. The nvidia response to that, seems to be the 9600gt, which outperforms the 3850 slightly, while having similar power consumption, but to my knowledge its sized like a 800 class card. in summary it really seems to be an 800 class card in size, heat and power consumption, with slightly worse performance than others in that class. The reason for it being 600, seems two fold, one that ati has redefined the midrange class the 600s filled, it fit in the midrange, or the old 600 class. The others seems to be a method of making ATI look bad, by making their 600 class, faster than ati's 850, etc.

the result is though, i dont forsee the 9600 being put in an average 15" anytime soon. However, i hope im wrong.

 

Now now, we already had a pcmicroworks and 9800 in 15.4 "NOT possible " scandal. I don't think there is any need for a new one.

 

Looking at the ASUS laptop design for the last 12 months, it seems they want to shove as much hardware into as shiny a box as possible and sell it for cheap, bugger the heat, battery life or compatibility issues. It is possible they went the same way with this machine....only time will tell I guess

 

Indeed, we need to wait until one of the trusted resellers from this site can have something to say about the new model.

 

i wasnt saying not possible, i mean we have a 15" alienware with an 8800gtx and a clevo on the way. but i think the 9500 will be the 15" card of this generation, with the 9600 showing up only in a few rare models.

 

The 9600M GS is a 65nm 9500M GS/8600M GT. Notebookcheck has benchmarks.

The 9600GT, G94, is gonna be the 9700M GTS, 9800M GT & 9800M GTS. The 9600M GS, M GT, 9700M GT are based on the G96, the 9500GT

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-9600M-GS.9450.0.html

128 bits
32 shaders
500mhz core
GDDR3 1600 / DDR2 800

The 9600M GT is the same, but 600mhz core

To make it simple

9500M G= 65nm 8600M GS
9500M GS= Renamed 8600M GT
9600M GS= 65nm 8600M GT
9600M GT= 65nm 8700M GT with 23W TDP This is the interesting part, MXM-IIable so 15.4'' mainstream
9650M GS= Renamed 8700M GT (29W TDP)

If we continue with the other cards not anounced but in the drivers
9650M GT -> G96b, 55nm 9600M GT
9700M GS -> G96
9700M GT-> G96
9700M GTS -> G94 (9600GT)
9800M GT -> G94b 55nm
9800M GTS -> G94b, 5
9800M GTX -> G92

http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Nvidia_55nm_Mobile_Graphics_Cards_Unveiled/5705.html

The G94b is also interesting. It might get MXM-IIable if the G94M consumes ~30W

 

wtf according to that the 9500gs is faster than the 9600gs

Edit: the link to notebookcheck shows that i mean.

 

9600M GS: Model CPU Memory Core / Memory GPU Memory Value
500 / 400MHz GDDR2 3200
500 / 800MHz GDDR3 4000

9500M GS
Model CPU Memory Core / Memory GPU Memory Value
512 3655
T9300 3670
Aspire 6920G-814G32Bn (Standard 1280x1024) T8100 4096 MB 475 / 400MHz 512MB ForceWare 167.64, 7.15.11.6764 3584
F8SN (Standard 1280x1024) T9300 3072 MB 475 / 400MHz 512MB GDDR2 Det. 156.80 3827
M51SN (Standard 1280x1024) T8300 2048 MB 475 / 400MHz 512MB 7.15.11.6749 4078

I have to doubt these scores @1280x1024. My C90S with E4500 @2.4GhZ (=T9500) and the 8600M GT @520/1450/520 is scoring 3.3k
The M51SN score looks likea GDDR3 card.

I've also seen that the 9500M GS scores way higher under XP than Vista (3.2k vs 4k) while the 8600M GT doesn't gain anything

 

actually Asus has a G50 notebook that will feature a 9700m GT in a 15 inch notebook.And Clevo plans on putting the 9800m GTS in the 15 inch. Where r u getting your info form?

 

The 9700M GT is still a G96, just a 65nm 8600M GT and the 9800M GTS is a 55nm so it's posible to be in a standard 15.4''. The 9800M GTS is gonna be similar to the desktop 9600GT

When I mean standard 15.4'', I mean 5.8~6.8lbs @ 3/4'' thick, not an alienware m15x

The G96 is the deskop 9500GT

 

I am starting to believe that there could be no major difference between any video card that is not 8700GT AT LEAST.
There are "forecast" differences of 100-1000 in 3d mark, but, as I was looking on many of the in-game videos from various gpus on this forum, and noted that real-life gaming differs from only a FEW fps.
I'm starting to think that, while I'm not going to be able to go for a 8700/9700/8800/9800 in a 15 incher at a decent price, I'll gladly take any of the other cards, and base my decision on other factors of the notebook. say speakers, screen, or price.
Example: the m50vm is targeted for 1800$ in a month or two. i can get the M50SV with 1300$ and the 4gb of ram NOW. I don't think 70 gb of HDD and 200 points in 3dmark deserve the money and my waiting time. I have itchy "confirm order" fingers.

 

Ive been wondering the same. I ordered an M50Sv-A1 from xoticpc.com and they were out of stock so they upgraded me to the new "M50VM-A1" (they called it) for free. Ive seen these newer ones and have been wondering if this could possibly be the replacement. if so, im extremely excited lol

 

Yes, the -vm is the Montevina update for the M50.

The -sv has been discontinued.